Little girl delivers immigration message to Pope Francis in D.C.

A huge crowd followed Pope Francis through the streets of Washington D.C. as he made his way to the White House on board a white Jeep.

And despite the strong security presence, a child managed to break through the barricades and ran towards the Pope. Five-year-old Sophie Cruz was stopped by one of the bodyguards in black suit and sunglasses, but then, Pope Francis saw her and ordered the security guards to let her through.

The man lifted the girl as if she was a doll and took her to the Pope’s side.

Francis stopped briefly to bless the child and kissed her cheek.

The young girl came all the way from California to see Francis, with a t-shirt and a letter. Little Sophie managed to deliver the message to the Pope, asking him to help her family and many other people in the same situation.

“My parents are immigrants from Oaxaca, Mexico. I want to ask Pope Francis to talk to the president and the Congress to legalize them, because otherwise I am scared they will be deported and taken away from me,” Sophie said in an interview with Associated Press.

Sophie was born in the United States, but her parents are living illegally in the state of California. She traveled to Washington with her father on a trip organized by a group of immigrants with the purpose of delivering a message to Pope Francis, which by the way was succesfully accomplished thanks to little Sophie Cruz.

“My parents work hard in this country and they deserve to live with dignity, they deserve to live with respect,” Sophie stated to the AP cameras, while her father, Juan Cruz, said in Spanish that “today’s encounter of my daughter with the Pope was something absolutely extraordinary, it was a true miracle.”